Spitfire flew through the skies above the Ponyville town square. She was headed to Dashie's house, the square as full as always. Applejack's stand was vacant, however, and sugarcube corner was closed for “A little while.” Whatever that meant. In fact, almost every business run by Rainbow Dash's friends was closed right now. However, this didn't really surprise Spitfire- Twilight had come by and picked Dash up from the practice track with a teleportation spell.
Spitfire knew it was urgent- Twilight's face was flushed with dread and the look on Rainbow's face when Twilight finished talking told her as much.
Still, it had been three hours and anything that had come up should have been dealt with by now.
She could still shrug off the absence of the ponies at that time, however. The tipping point was when she started to approach Dash's house.
As she touched down, she saw that the curtains were drawn and the door locked. She knew they still weren't back and might need help. Spitfire immediately took off again in search of Spike the dragon- he was usually in the loop concerning these things as he was Twilight's personal assistant (or so Dash told her).
Spitfire flew as fast as she could across the square, nearly leaving a trail of fire in the sky. The library felt agonizingly far away from the cloud house Rainbow Dash lived in. As she sped past the colorful blur that was a crowd of ponies going about their business, she overheard several shouts from them- from gasps of amazement to screams of terror. She sped towards the tree library at blinding speed, nearly crashing into the middle of the trunk.
Landing on the ground, hard, she banged on the door as hard as she could nearly causing it to buckle under the strain.
“Okay, okay, I'm coming. Sheesh. Oh, hi Spit-”
“WHERE ARE RAINBOW DASH AND HER FRIENDS? I NEED TO KNOW NOW!!!” Spitfire interrupted the dragon mid sentence.
“Th-They went into Everfree with the elements of harmony. Something about fighting off the remaining spirit of Nightmare Moon. Twilight told me not to worry, they should be back really soon.”
Spitfire had already sped off into the distance, already nearing the borders of the unnatural forest that is Everfree. She knew where to go- Dash had told her enough stories about the adventures of her and her friends that she knew where it all started.
The castle of the two sisters. Already it was visible in the distance, the dark, foreboding forest below seemingly calling for the demise of any and all who step into it's borders.
Spitfire heard the tortured cry of a beast in extreme pain. Immediately, she doubled her speed to where she could almost see a Sonic Rainboom cone forming around her hooves.
As she neared the source of the cries, the sound stopped abruptly. Over the trees, Spitfire could see the 4 heads of a Hydra jutting out into the sky. Something about it didn't seem right- as if it emanated darkness.
Slowly flying towards the clearing that was the castle of the two sisters, she saw six ponies laying in a semicircle with one slightly closer to the feet of the Hydra. The pony, of course, had a rainbow mane and a cyan coat.
Swooping down, Spitfire was seething. She flew at the Hydra with all her strength and hit it right in the neck, hopefully causing it some pain.
It worked, but before Spitfire knew it she was swatted out of the sky by the head of the beast, with it loudly exclaiming “INSOLENT FOOL! DOTH THOU KNOWEST WHOM THY ARE ADDRESSING?!?”
Spitfire landed hard near the unconscious cyan pony, seeing her love battered and bruised. Again enraged, she flew up and attacked once again, the Hydra's massive form unable to react quickly enough to dodge.
Once more, the mare was knocked down, only to get up again and face down the possessed beast.
“I AM NIGHTMARE MOON, THE BRINGER OF DARKNESS AND YOUR PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT! THE INSOLENCE THAT YOU HAVE SHOWN HERE WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED!”
The Hydra took a swoop at Spitfire, but the mare's agile form easily dodged, and again Spitfire took the opportunity to inflict more pain. She had bruises all over her body, but she managed the strength for one more pass. Reacting quickly this time, the Hydra struck down the orange pegasis, knocking her to the ground with a sickening crunch. She was down for the count.
The Hydra laughed at the pathetic ponies she saw in front of her. Through her pain, spitfire attempted to drag herself closer to Rainbow. Several ribs were broken, and even more were cracked or bruised. It was pure agony.
“THE FOAL DOES NOT WISH TO QUIT! VERY WELL THEN- WE SHALL MAKE HER SUFFER MORE!”
With that, Nightmare Moon cast a spell surrounding Spitfire with mud and quicksand, making the journey that much more unbearable. Her resolve did not fade; however, but grew stronger with every time she collapsed. She would make it to Rainbow, or she would die trying.
Seeing this, the possessed beast regarded her with a look that resembled respect, before returning to the normal scowl. Clearly, this mare would stop at nothing to reach her friend. She thought to herself, 'Does this mare really think this will do any good? They've lost, I've won. Nopony can stop my plan now.' Nightmare returned her attention to the problem at hand- the completion of the scheme she had been developing for the past year now. Biding her time.
Spitfire crawled ever closer to Dashie- the pain increasing steadily, and her desire to hold the mare one last time growing exponentially. Progress was agonizingly slow, the quicksand holding down her injured forlegs and the mud causing her to slip and slide and gain no traction. She inched ever closer, being within a few feet of the cyan pony. She would make it. She had to.
After what seemed like an eternity, she grabbed hold of the pony and did something that surprised even Nightmare. She kissed her. The limp form of Rainbow Dash slowly feeling alive again, and a light enveloping all six ponies in front of her, Spitfire jumped back in surprise- immediately regretting that reaction.
“WHAT IS THIS? NOOO!” Nightmare yelled at the recent development
Everypony looked as if they were in shock, but the necklaces they were wearing were emitting enough power for Spitfire to feel the heat from where she was laying.
A beam of rainbows fired out of all six of them, becoming intertwined and angling down on the Hydra as if they were being fired from artillery.
“NOOOOOoooooo....” shouted Nightmare moon, slowly diminishing to a small whimper. They did it- they had won.
Suddenly, both Spitfire and Dash collapsed to the ground- their injuries finally getting the better of them, and their aching bodies protesting to any further movement by knocking them both unconscious.
***
Spitfire awoke in a soft bed in an all white room. Judging by the smell and decorum (or lack thereof), she guessed she was in a hospital. Looking down on herself, she had several bandages, a cast and an IV hooked up to her. Across the room, she could see that Rainbow was in similar condition- excepting the position of the cast and bandage. They had obviously suffered similar injuries at the hands of Nightmare.
As she tried to move, a sudden dizzy spell came over Spitfire causing her to collapse back onto the bed and become, once again, comatose on the sterilized mattress.
About 9 hours later, she awoke with a start- seeing five ponies surrounding Rainbow Dash. She mustered the strength to say something, but it came out as a barely intelligible sentence.
“Whahappun?”
The group of ponies turned in surprise, eager to see the mare that had just woken up.
Twilight was the first to respond- “We got in a fight with Nightmare Moon. It turns out that the Elements couldn't kill the personality off- they could only cause it to weaken slightly. It would take several shots to kill, normally.”
“a...and...this... time?” spitfire asked, gasping nearly every word. She was still in pain, and nearing blackout again.
“This time it was different. The last time we fought Nightmare, we used the magic of Friendship- a powerful, binding magic- but it wasn't quite strong enough. I was the spark last time, Spitfire. This time, it was you. You were the spark. You bolstered the Elements with an even stronger type of magic- love. Love is the strongest form of magic there is- using it correctly allows you to accomplish anything. When you were crawling towards Rainbow Dash, even if it was simply to die in her arms, you showed more courage, love and generosity than most ponies show in their entire lives. The magic created by this defeated Nightmare.”
Mulling this over in her misty brain, Spitfire latched on to something she deemed important.
“So.. It's over?”
“Yes, it's over. Forever.”
With those reassuring words, Spitfire allowed the darkness to come. She was at peace for the time being.
To be concluded.